Book Review : How I Built This By Guy Raz

With an intriguing heading and arousing a sense of curiosity How I Built This by Guy Raz takes through a memorable journey of what it takes to build one owns business. And how can become or dream to be an entrepreneur.

The author is quite candid on this role when he says in his own words these telling lines – It doesn’t matter. What matters is that anyone can be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs aren’t chosen, they are made. Self-made. You could be an entrepreneur. Maybe you already are. Maybe you have already heard the call: Of an idea that gets you excited. Of a problem that needs a solution. Of a friend who needs help that you are uniquely suited to provide. Either way, what follows is a critical set of things to think about as you prepare to cross the Rubicon of entrepreneurship into truly uncharted territory.

In the words of the author himself each chapter explores a discrete moment that nearly every founder faces in the life of their business — from coming up with an idea to getting their story straight; from finding funding to finding a co-founder; from pivoting their product to building their culture; from surviving catastrophe to figuring out how to grow and scale a business that lasts and leaves them feeling good about who they are and what they have done for the world.

For the readers who want to know the finer points of business there are some important chapters that needs special focus like – Be Open To Ideas, Do your Research, Find your Co-founder, Fund the Business, Part 1: Bootstrapping, Fund the Business, Part 1: Bootstrapping, Get Attention, Part 1: Building Buzz, Get Attention, Part 2: Engineering Word of Mouth to name a few. And incase it gets wrong due to some unforeseen tragedy then chapters like – Protect What You’ve Built and When Catastrophe Strikes gives you the fair Idea how to go about it without getting tense.

Guy is upfront when he says this book is for people who aren’t natural-born entrepreneurs or even entrepreneurs at all, but instead are dreamers whose lack of experience is inversely proportional to the force of their ambition and the momentum of their desire to bring something new into the world and to make the world a better place. People who are idealistic but may not have found an idea worth going out on a limb for just yet. People who appreciate success if it comes, and who can find ways to learn from failure when it happens (oh, yes, failure will happen). People who learn the hard way — through experience — though the wisdom in those lessons may not always be immediately self-evident to them. People who still have no idea how they ended up where they are, with a product or a service, with employees and customers, but who want to make a real go of it, because they don’t want to let anyone down, least of all themselves.

The book is thoroughly engaging read and keeps one engrossed. It provides wonderful insights from the mouths of leading entrepreneurs the ways one can launch , start and build a successful, venture . And become self made individual.